Raven walked carefully through the cells, almost hyper-aware of every sound and movement around him as he checked on various unhealthy inmates, trying to speak soothingly and careful of how he approached. As he rose to his feet he noticed Sliet and Pel were both off somewhere else, and felt a discomforting surge of nausea run through him, clenching his fists and taking in a slow breath before continuing on. The whole place made him feel sick, from the deafening pressure in the air to the chemicals covering the iron stink of blood. When he noticed the small form of a child wandering among the others, he stopped, almost in shock. What was a little kid doing in here? He watched the other for a moment from a distance, trying to see if he seemed to have a parent, but the little one looked sort of disoriented and lost. He approached the boy curiously, eventually crouching to lower himself to the kid's level. "Hey there little guy," Raven said softly, addressing him from a little ways away. "Are you okay?" He asked, trying to see if the other was hurt.

Stagnum stumbled around the crowd of inmates, trying not to run into anyone. It was a fair bit louder than usual, and he was having trouble figuring out what exactly was going on around him. The boy was too wrapped up in the chaos that he didn't notice the other aproach until he was right in feont of him. He jumped back, startled when Raven spoke, coming close to running into the other. Wait, was this person talking to him? Actually, specifically to him? The boy stared in the general direction of the voice, listening to see if he would keep speaking.

Raven blinked in confusion as the other jumped suddenly and stared at him blankly, then recognized the faded, watery tint to his eyes; the little guy was blind. "H-hey, it's okay. Don't worry." He started, speaking calmly so as not to startle the other any further. "I'm Raven, What's your name?" He asked gently. Maybe he could find the boy's parents... if they were even still here, let alone alive.

Raven smiled sadly at the other, trying to think of what to say. Getting him to a safe place was the most important at the moment; he was worried about many in the center, but the little kid was especially vunerable, he was small, blind and ill, surrounded by all this horror and horrible people. "Everything's going to be okay now, alright Stagnum? I'm here with a lot of others to help, so people can leave and go home." He tried to explain breifly, so the little one knew he wasn't some guard or inmate that was going to hurt him. "Did you want to come get some nice warm food?" He asked the other gently.

Stagnum frowned uncertainly at the idea of going home. Things were pretty bad here, but as long as he didn't run into any people he was ignored for the most part. Things were pretty bad at home too. wait. what? food? Stagnum nodded quickly, excited at the prospect of an actual meal.

Raven smiled again, standing up calmly, though still on alert for danger as he looked after the other. "Okay. I'm gonna hold your hand to show you, alright? We'll go to my friends and find you something to eat." He told the other, keeping his tone light. He reached out and took the child's little hand in his own, guiding him along carefully back towards where they were setting up. He looked around for their rations. He led Stagnum over to a crate. "Here, you can just sit here for a moment" He told the other, starting to head towards the food before pausing, glancing back at the boy, and taking off his coat, running back and gently cloaking the other in the warm thing. "One minute."

When he'd gotten a ration prepared, he headed back over, letting the other know it was him as he sat down next to the boy. He reached over, setting the food in the other's hands and carefully passing him a fork. "There, is that okay? It's alright if you need some help."

Stagnum followed the other wordlessly, stumbling a bit as he climbed up onto the crate. It was quieter over here. That was nice anyway. He blinked a bit in confusion as he was covered with something. It was nice, and warm, and didn't smell bad like everything else in here. He pulled it around himself more tightly, bringing it up over his face to warm his chilled nose.He shifted a bit when he was handed the food, quickly digging in less than elegantly practically inhaling some of it

Raven sat down next to the other as he ate, watching the boy sort of sadly. What had the little one even done to deserve being put in here? Been in the wrong place at the wrong time? As Stagnum wolfed down the food, he felt mixed pity and relief; the other was starving, but at least he had an appetite. He patted the other's back gently, setting down a ration of water; not the substitute, the real stuff from flora. "Easy, don't make yourself sick." He said softly. "You can have as much as you're hungry for, no need to rush." He stayed with the other for a few moments before getting to his feet. "I'm just going to talk to someone, just stay here okay? Everyone in here's nice, so just ask if you need something. I'll be right back." He let one of the soldiers know to keep an eye on the boy before heading to find Sliet. When he spotted the other he hesitated to address her. "S-Captain? May I speak to you for a moment?" Raven asked awkwardly.

Stagnum listened to Raven leave, reaching for the water. It tasted different in the way that it really had no taste at all as opposed to the as opposed to the usual chemical flavour, and this stuff was runnier. he pulled his legs up onto the crate and under the coat, curling up into a small ball of warm.

Sliet looked over the people moving around the facility, frowning. The mission had definitely been a success, only a few people had gotten hurt, but she still wasn't sure how she felt about this whole thing. Saving the murderers, thieves and rapists didn't seem to her like the most appealing of goals, but at least this was cutting off one of the federations sources of troops. She looked up when Raven approached, smiling a bit. "Sure kiddo, whats up?" She asked, standing up a bit straighter and dropping the formalities. Nobody else was around right now anyway.

Raven approached the other, setting down a data log. "We went through the injured; most of inmates are malnourished and anemic, and have the illness, though that's all treatable." He swallowed before going onto the next part. "The S-sargent, staff and soldiers are safe, in a few cells until... well, until you decide what to do with them." He added, looking away as he remembered patching the Sargent's injured arm while trying not to vomit at the sight of the man's cold, porcelain face. He looked back up hesitantly. "A-also, there was a kid. In with the inmates, he's only five or six.. h-hes blind, and ill, and I didn't- well, he, the other inmates, I wanted to make sure they didn't do anything to him," Raven stuttered out uncertainly, remembering what he'd gone through at the hands of those incarcerated with him. "C-can I have permission to take him out from the others? Just until I can find his parents, or family or someone? He can share my rations and stay with me." He requested, his voice quiet and hopeful.

Sliet nodded at Ravens report. They had expected the inmates to be in bad shape, so that was nothing new. Sliets eye twitched a bit in anger at the mention of the Sargent. She was still debating on what to do with him and the others, as much as she just wanted to kill them herself her superiors probably wouldn't like that very much. She was only going to get so many chances to do things like that before they decided she was more of a pain than she was worth, and she didn't want to waste one of those on them. She blinked a bit in confusion and surprise when Raven told her about the child. What was a kid doing in here? If it was anyone else she would want to see this for herself to make sure they weren't mistaken, but with Raven... she couldn't just leave the kid. She had an idea of what the inmates were capable of. No child should be left with them. ever. If she played her cards right, nobody would even notice that the kid was ever there, let alone that he was missing, and if any of her bosses heard about it, they might be even less likely to believe it than her. "Why would he share your rations? I know you don't eat much and that hes just little, but he's going to get his own rations or else, and you're going to make sure he stays out of trouble. Am I clear?" She instructed, trying to keep a stern and official expression.

Raven listened as the other spoke, brightening a little bit at her words. He would have given the kid all of his food if needed, but Stagnum being allowed his own rations would make things a lot easier. He couldn't help smiling a little at her stern comment, nodding quickly. "Yes Captain. Thank you." He replied gratefully.

Heading back to stagnum, Raven considered what he had left to do. He wanted to find Locke's file, but that might have to wait; the boy was first. He walked pver to where the other sitting, curled up on the crate. "Hey stagnum." He said softly. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Raven asked. "Is there anyone you know here, in this building? Family?... or friends?"

Sliet watched Raven leave with a hint of amusement, turning back to the crowd behind her.

Stagnum looked up at the sound of his name, tilting his head curiously. Questions? what kind of questions? The only person he knew in here would have been his dad... and Raven, but he didn't think he wanted to see his dad. The small boy nodded, shifting a little under the coat.

Raven looked at the other, feeling a bit of relief when the other noted a familiar person. So maybe he did have a family to take care of him? "Really? That's good; did you want to see if I can find them for you?" He asked gently.

Raven blinked in confusion at the boy. He didn't want to see his family? He realized with worry then that the kid's family member might be one of the murderers or rapists. If that was the case, he wasn't sure what he would do."O-okay. You don't have to. Could you maybe tell me their name, though? I won't make you see them, okay? I just want to help." He tried to explain. If he could find the file, maybe he could figure out if Stagnum had any other family on the inside, and know what he was dealing with.

Stagnum frowned. He didn't know what the other wanted to know the name for... but if he really didn't have to go back to the man again, then it couldn't hurt. The small boy motioned for Raven to move closer. though it wasn't quite in the right direction, as though he was going to share a very serious secret.

Raven blinked at the other, curious as to the boy's actions, then obliged, leaning over to listen to him, and waiting for the answer.

---

Raven kept Stagnum close as he walked around, helping supervise and do additional check-ups as they moved inmates around and screened them. He'd given up his coat and treasured orange scarf to the boy at this point, and was in his medical uniform, feeling more cold and out of place than formal. He looked up to notice a man heading their way, and felt an instinctual sense of alarm, moving slightly in front of Stagnum until he could figure out what the other wanted. They were relatively alone; away from most of the inmates and with no soldiers in sight, he noted with apprehension.

Rick sat in a small group of other inmates when he noticed the two walking around. He narrowed his eyes a bit at the sight of the other man with his son, heading in their direction. The man stopped in front of Raven, towering over him. "I believe you have something of mine." He said with a sneer.

Stagnum followed Raven around quietly, ducking around his legs curiously whenever he heard something interesting. He was a little confused when he was pushed behind the other, waiting for an explanation. He tensed at the sound of the all too familiar voice, gripping Raven's pant-leg tightly.

Raven watched the other as he approached, recognizing the face from the files he'd looked at with dread. He bristled internally, feeling his insides turn to ice as he stood his ground at the other's words. As Stagnum clutched tighter to his leg in fear, he didn't look down, but took a deep breath before addressing the man, moving one hand to run it over the boy's hair reassuringly. It's going to be okay. "You must be his father?" Raven asked, smiling emptily at the murderer. "Well, if you just come back with me to where we're set up, we can get all the legal stuff figured out to reassign custody. It'll just take a minute." He told the other lightly. He didn't like the idea of trying to argue with him alone if he could avoid it, but he wasn't letting the other hurt Stagnum.

Raven looked back at the other unwavering as he got closer, taking a step back then, only to direct Stagnum in the opposite direction with a gentle but firm push of his hand against the little one's back. "Go find Sliet, Stagnum, so she can get the documents for your dad." He told the boy hurriedly, his voice not open to argument. As he turned back to the man, he put himself in the way immediately, so the man couldn't go after the boy.

Stagnum turned and ran as soon as Raven told him to, tripping and running into things a few times before running out of sight.

Rick watched the boy disappear with fury before turning on Raven. "You little-" he started, before grabbing onto the front of the others shirt, lifting hi off of the ground and slamming his back into the wall. There was no way this twerp was going to get away with this.

Raven failed to step out of the man's reach as the other grabbed him, feeling a sense of relief as the attention was kept off Stagnum, and then a spattering of white pain as the other slammed him into the wall. He caught the other's wrists immediately to keep himself from choking, and brought his knee up hard and repeatedly into the other's stomach while bracing his back and other foot against the wall to gain some push.